Hello there! I've been crafting for as long as I can remember, good old Blue Peter got me started and then I branched out into cross stitching. For the last four years my passion has been cardmaking, something I'm actively trying to improve all the time. Happy crafting all!

Thursday, 10 October 2013

I have about 7 pads of distress ink and know there's lots you can do with them as a medium but don't really do that much with them....so an ideal workshop to attend :)

We made this lovely tag book using a different technique on each one. On the reverse I've stuck the instructions Kaz gave us which outlines how to achieve each effect - good for future reference.

I do get rather over-excited at workshops as I only get to attend a couple a year. So I'm very grateful to Sandra who was sitting opposite and noticed that the example tag book was in 'threes' so said she was only changing colour combo every three tags. Genius. Mine may have been a bit all over the place if she hadn't said that.

So, onto the book. Here's the finished article. I added the charm and links when I got home, plus finished off the last set of heat embossed tags as we didn't get that far in the class.**Disclaimer: I have no idea why some of the photos are in random orientations and I can't seem to fix it!**

THE FULL BOOK AND COVER:

THE INK TECHNIQUE TAGS:

THE DISTRESS PAINT TAGS:

PLAYING WITH THE STAINS:

AND FINALLY INKS AND HEAT EMBOSSING:

(the green one has distress embossing powders, the others use translucent lilac shimmer embossing powders)

(a close up - tag was inked, then embossed with the lilac shimmer but you could also use clear, then inked around the edge on top once dry)

Friday, 25 January 2013

As promised from the last post, here are the photos of the finished smash book - just asking to be filled. The front cover on once stamping and embellishments were added. The bottom layer is a yellow and green acrylic with gold 'Golden' paint to give a sheen:

It's a while since I've been on any kind of workshop and although I haven't got a gelli plate I wanted to do something that would fit with my current favourite branch of crafting....art journalling. And what can I say - it was ace!

Working in a pair with craft pal Catherine, we got to grips with how things worked and got a bunch of good (and not so good) prints.... but what a great learning experience. After lunch we turned our faves into an item of our choice. I created a smash book.

So, now for the onslaught of photos. You have been warned!

Ready to go:

First prints - using sail boat blue toned down with another colour I can't quite recall.

Adding a second layer to two of those first prints.

Going for a striking one layer look on textured card:

This one I love!

Cogs on top of trees - honest!

﻿

And then I cut down and mounted one as a cover.... added stamping and embellishments. Really trasnforms it.... oh dear....can't insert the image. Well, more on this later folks!